Printing on Sihl glossy paper

[The Hat]

I don't think I can use Sihl paper to sell my product. All it would take is for a person to see the lines, leave a bad review and my new venture ends before it ever got started.

Excuse my intervention, but I reckon your pissing up a rope, your using poor quality dye inks and standard grade photo paper and your worried what your customers may say when they see the pizza wheel marks on their photos..
I’d be more worried about my photos disappearing off the sheet after only a short while, there is no such thing as a free lunch.. Please re-think your Venture again..
Sorry for been so blunt..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I wouldn't think the serial number has much meaning for anybody outside the factory, and they may not be in sequence or may not contain a date code , it can be a combination of several parameters - a batch number+ machine number + box counter etc.
The pizza wheel marks depend on the amount of ink/solvent which softens the coating during the print process. But the driver does not have a setting to slow down the printing process - some other printer drivers do .

I would directly contact the Sihl customer service and report to them your quality problems with the stains, that's not normal as you present these flaws here.
Please be aware that the L805 ink which comes with the printer is not the most durable for longterm UV/ozone stability. The best Epson ink you can use is the bottled ink for the ET7700 printer - it's the 106 inks which I have discussed elsewhere several times. I'm using a octopus-office rinse solution as a dilutant for C and M to get LC and LM inks for the L805.

 

[PrintingSoon]

I've just printed the same light coloured photo twice. For the first photo I used:

Epson photo paper inkjet
quality: standard
thick paper and envelope setting: off
high speed: off
borderless: yes

and I can't see any speckle marks. The colour seems quite off.

I then printed the same photo again with:

Epson premium glossy
quality: standard
thick paper and envelope setting: off
high speed: off
borderless: yes

The colour is greatly improved and while I can see wheel marks on the darkest part of the photo, I can't see any speckle marks.

 

[PrintingSoon]

Excuse my intervention, but I reckon your pissing up a rope, your using poor quality dye inks and standard grade photo paper and your worried what your customers may say when they see the pizza wheel marks on their photos..
I’d be more worried about my photos disappearing off the sheet after only a short while, there is no such thing as a free lunch.. Please re-think your Venture again..
Sorry for been so blunt..

My product is very cheap . I just never expected wheel marks or speckle marks, the photos minus the marks look fine. I would be happy with them. I seem to be the only one with these marks (the speckles at least), so I was right not to expect them.

My plan was to use a cheaper paper (even with a reduction in quality) and then buy a ColorMunki in the hopes of a custom profile helping the photos look a bit better. That said, I didn't expect them to look as good as the Kodak paper. While my ink may be poor, I'm confident others selling the same/similar items are using cheap non OEM ink.

I think most people want something unmarked when buying a new item. They could be in a pound shop (my product really isn't far off that price) see that an item is marked and then replace it with an unmarked item.

I wouldn't think the serial number has much meaning for anybody outside the factory, and they may not be in sequence or may not contain a date code .
The pizza wheel marks depend on the amount of ink/solvent which softens the coating during the print process. But the driver does not have a setting to slow down the printing process - some printer drivers do - is it with Canon printers to set an extended drying time ? Anyway- that wouldn't help you.

I would directly contact the Sihl customer service and report to them your quality problems , that's not normal.

I was taking a guess at the batch numbers being consecutive, but you're right, they could be numbered in numerous ways. Changing the settings definitely improved the wheel marks and so did printing a lighter coloured photo. Perhaps more testing could help.

I will send them an email now. Maybe they can make a suggestion.

Thanks.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Getting a dedicated profile for your ink/paper/driver setting combination makes sense to get the best out of it; but getting a ColorMunki may not be cost effective if you don't need more profiles now and then. The overall color space of the Sihl paper is not so much different from other premium papers - HP, Fotospeed and others. But that's a completely different subject.
The markings of the sprocket wheels in the inkjet printers is known and there is not much you can do about it - testing various papers and driver settings to find a minimum. But I don't have the impression that viewers of inkjet prints even see those traces or consider them critical to any extend.
You have the right to return your order back to Sihl if you don't come to another solution with their customer serivce, I only can confirm that I don't see such speckles on my paper , I got the last packs about a year ago.

 

[palombian]

Did you wait long enough ?

After 2-3 days the sprocket wheel marks on the Action paper are only visible with a magnifying glass.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I had a look into my L805 printer, the sprocket wheels are lined up in a small metal box reaching over the print width.
You can lift this small metal bar a few mm, so the wheels wouldn't touch the paper anymore. This is made to prevent the wheels to touch the CD surfaces since tlhis printer can print CD's/DVD's. You need to test what happens with your photo paper that it does not touch other parts in the paper path, and as well with normal paper which is not that stiff. It just may be good enough to lift the wheels by 1mm.

 

[PrintingSoon]

Getting a dedicated profile for your ink/paper/driver setting combination makes sense to get the best out of it; but getting a ColorMunki may not be cost effective if you don't need more profiles now and then. The overall color space of the Sihl paper is not so much different from other premium papers - HP, Fotospeed and others. But that's a completely different subject.
The markings of the sprocket wheels in the inkjet printers is known and there is not much you can do about it - testing various papers and driver settings to find a minimum. But I don't have the impression that viewers of inkjet prints even see those traces or consider them critical to any extend.
You have the right to return your order back to Sihl if you don't come to another solution with their customer serivce, I only can confirm that I don't see such speckles on my paper , I got the last packs about a year ago.

Initially I wasn't going to get a ColorMunk for the reasons you stated but after purchasing two L805s, one for photos and one for sublimation, I realised it would be a useful device to have. I plan to test a few different sublimation papers and also different A4 paper. I will make sure to test a pack of paper before ordering 1100 sheets again.

At first I didn't consider returning them, the shipping charge back to Germany will be quite high but it's the quickest way to get most of my money back. Also, in the event they are part of a faulty batch it wouldn't be fair for anyone that purchased them from me. I emailed yesterday explaining everything and asked for advice, I haven't had a response yet, I'm hoping they have a solution.

I find it strange how the speckle marks don't show up on the two light coloured photos I printed. I'm trying
to find some but I can't.

Did you wait long enough ?

After 2-3 days the sprocket wheel marks on the Action paper are only visible with a magnifying glass.

Thanks for the tip. I've just looked at them again, this is about a day and a half after printing and they are still present. They do look like they may have gone down a little. I'll check again later and tomorrow (3 days). The photos I printed yesterday with different settings are useable as far as the wheel marks are concerned, the wheel marks require inspection to be seen. The problem is the speckle marks are easily seen.

I had a look into my L805 printer, the sprocket wheels are lined up in a small metal box reaching over the print width.
You can lift this small metal bar a few mm, so the wheels wouldn't touch the paper anymore. This is made to prevent the wheels to touch the CD surfaces since tlhis printer can print CD's/DVD's. You need to test what happens with your photo paper that it does not touch other parts in the paper path, and as well with normal paper which is not that stiff. It just may be good enough to lift the wheels by 1mm.

Thanks for the information.

I just had a quick look, I can see the bar and raise it but it then drops back down. I may wedge something at the end
but I need to make sure it wouldn't be hit by the print head.

I've only tested one standard paper type, HP everyday 75g paper. The glossy types are Kodak, Fujifilm and Sihl. All prints except when using Sihl have no marks.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I don't know where you are located, you may mail samples of some speckled sheets first to Sihl to show the problems with the actual papers you got from them. And you may check shipping rates with a few courier services like DPD, they may be quite different, in some cases lower than the postal service. Some have a kind of Euro flat rate, another shipper is more concerned about dimensions than weight. Your box should be rather compact and heavy.
Use a piece of folded paper and just raise the bar slightly - 1mm or so for a first test, and keep a hand ready to pull the power cable if you get a paper jam . The printhead won't hit the wheels, it doesn't when you print CD's.
If you are planning to test and use various different paper types a profiling unit like the ColorMunki - or its successor - would make sense. You may have a look on Ebay for used models as well to start with.
Please don't be deflected by the Datacolor Spyderprint models, there is a risk that you can get complete nonsense profiles.

 

[The Hat]

then buy a ColorMunki in the hopes of a custom profile helping the photos look a bit better.

Me and my big mouth again here, but wouldn’t a ColorMunki be a total waste of good money, especially going on your current experience and what you have already posted here, the best place I reckon for you to start would be to invest in a higher quality Photo printer..